


Welcome To Bordertown

by bourbonlake



Category: Bordertown (Novel)
Genre: Adaptation, Bordertown Series, I am the only person to write for this fandom, Screenplay/Script Format, Welcome To Bordertown, Why isn't there more fantasy on here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:02:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24040270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bourbonlake/pseuds/bourbonlake
Summary: A teaser for the Bordertown TV series we're never going to get.





	Welcome To Bordertown

**Author's Note:**

> Another old one from the script archive, circa 2011. Adaptation notes at the end.

OVER BLACK—

(V.O.)  
The way into the Borderlands has been gone  
for thirteen years.

FADE IN: EXT. INTERSTATE - DAY

A mostly empty highway. Trees dot the endless, flat landscape. A young woman walks along the shoulder. TRISHA, 18. She looks tired.

A car approaches. She holds out her thumb to the sound as the vehicle races past her. It doesn’t stop. She readjusts her backpack, keeps walking.

(V.O.)  
Some said it was closed. Some said it was  
missing or that it was all just a government  
conspiracy and that Bordertown was just a  
fairy tale. But some of us knew better.

A gust of wind whips at her hair. A 60’S style van pulls up along side her. She stops, takes a cautious step back. The door opens, revealing several teenagers and a driver. A boy, roughly 16, holds the door.

BOY  
Been out here a while?

She nods.

BOY  
Need a lift?

TRISHA  
I don’t have any money.

BOY  
Didn’t ask for any. You’re heading to the  
Border, right?

TRISHA  
How’d you know?

BOY  
Out here? Really?

Trisha smiles. Relief. Excitement.

BOY  
Next stop, Borderlands.

INT. VAN - BACK SEAT - MOVING - LATER THAT DAY

Excited chatter. Two girls, LARA and WALKER are debating human-elven etiquette.

LARA  
Wait, so why can’t I call them fairies?

WALKER  
Faerie is where they’re from, not what they  
are.

On Trisha. Learning against the door. Staring out the window. The conversation around her fades to a dull murmur.

The world outside the window is changing almost imperceptibly. The trees are different. Taller. Silvery. The colors are richer. More vibrant.

(V.O.)  
Bordertown wasn’t just some fairy tale. It  
was the real thing. A place where The World  
and The Realm collide. Where misfits and  
adventure seekers, artists and outcasts,  
could trade in their everyday lives for a  
place where magic and technology coexist in  
precarious balance. You just have to know  
how to get there.

INT. VAN - FRONT SEAT - DAY

The van sputters and lurches before grinding to a dead stop. The driver sighs, puts the car in park.

DRIVER  
End of the line, guys. Looks like it’s on  
foot from here.

EXT. VAN - DAY

The group piles out of the van and take in the new landscape. It is barren, but not in a frightening, we’ll-die-here kind of way. It is vivid, hyper-real.

DRIVER  
Welcome to the Nevernever. Last stop between  
here and there.

Trisha swings her bag over her shoulder. A book falls out, along with a postcard. One of the girls grabs it for her.

WALKER  
You know there’s no reliable mail service  
between worlds, right?

TRISHA  
Yeah. I just wanted to make sure I let my  
family know I’m okay.

WALKER  
They don’t approve, huh?

TRISHA  
They don’t understand.

WALKER  
I know what you mean.

She tucks a lock of hair back to reveal a pointed ear.

WALKER  
Dad’s Highborn. Mom’s human. You can  
imagine, right? Anyway. Your best bet is to find  
somebody headed back once you arrive. But  
there’s no telling how long that could take.

Trisha tucks the items back in her bag. They turn to catch up with the others. What was once highway is now a well-worn dirt road. In the distance are cars parked haphazardly. The group walk in the direction the cars are facing.

EXT. NEVERNEVER - LATER THAT DAY

Trisha walks alone. Buildings appear on the horizon. The air around them shimmers. Something changes in Trisha’s step. She perks up. Smiles for the first time.

TRISHA  
(to herself)  
We’re not in Kansas anymore, Toto.

(V.O.)  
Everybody’s journey is different. Tokyo.  
Berlin. Sarasota. Doesn’t matter. All roads  
lead to Bordertown eventually. Once you make  
it to the Nevernever—if you make it to the  
Nevernever—you’re home free. And once you  
see those beautiful, broken, vine-covered  
buildings on the horizon, you know you’ve  
made it.

Trisha reaches a sign post, and old city marker half-covered in graffiti. We pull in. It reads—

  
WELCOME TO BORDERTOWN.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Holly Black's "Welcome To Bordertown" anthology, I desperately wanted a TV series set in Bordertown. This teaser script was written as an exercise in scripting/adaptation, which is why there are so many misses and gaps. Still, considering I wrote this 9 years ago, it's decent.


End file.
